Portable abrasive tool



May 12,1970 J. R. TOLLE PORTABLE ABRASIVE TOOL Filed April 21. 1967 INVEN TOR.

JOHN R. TOLLE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,510,989 PORTABLE ABRASIVE TOOL John R. Tolle, 7270 Thomas Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45243 Filed Apr. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 632,618 Int. Cl. B24]: 23/00, 55/04 U.S. Cl. 51170 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable abrasive tool has a substantially hollow member with a cylindrical abrasive surface. A guard surrounds the lower portion of the member and has an end plate at one end to provide support for the member during rotation of the member. The member is rotated by a portable hand drill, which is supported by the other end of the guard and connected to the member.

In repairing automobile bodies, which have been damaged, it is necessary to polish, grind, or sand the painted surface since high spots remain after the body has been completed. Various types of portable abrasive tools have been previously suggested for performing this grinding, sanding, or polishing operation in order to reduce the labor time required plus providing a better finished surface. However, the previously suggested portable tools have had the disadvantage of being either relatively eX- pensive and heavy or constructed so that the abrasive surface does not run true.

For example, it has been previously suggested to attach a portable drill to a cylindrical member having an abrasive surface thereon. However, the drill has not been rigidly mounted with respect to the abrasive tool. This has presented the problem of not only the abrasive surface failing to run true but also retaining the abrasive surface of the portable tool in the desired contact with the surface being ground, polished, or sanded.

The previously suggested device having the non-rigidly mounted drill also has not provided means to insure that the other end of the rotating member having the abrasive surface will run true with respect to the end connected to the drill. Accordingly, the previously suggested portable tool has not been capable of consistently producing satisfactory results.

The present invention satisfactorily overcomes the foregoing problems by providing a portable tool in which a power drill, which provides the drive to rotate a member having an abrasive surface, is rigidly mounted to one end of the rotating member having the abrasive surface. The other end of the rotating member having the abrasive surface also is rotatably supported so that the abrasive surface runs true.

Another problem with the previously suggested abrasive tool is that it provided no means of holding the tool intermediate its ends during the sanding, grinding, or polishing operation. This is necessary in order that the abrasive surface of the tool may be properly guided. The present invention satisfactorily overcomes this problem by utilizing support means intermediate the ends of the rotatable member having the abrasive surface.

3,510,989 Patented May 12, 1970 Other types of abrasive tools for grinding, polishing, or sanding have been previously suggested in which a bearing support is provided for each end of a rotating member having an abrasive surface. However, these devices have been extremely heavy and not readily portable so as to be easily handled. The present invention overcomes this problem since it utilizes a relatively lightweight structure in which the rotating member having the abrasive surface is supported at both ends so that the abrasive surface rotates true.

An object of this invention is to provide a portable abrasive tool having an abrasive member rotatably supported at both ends.

Another object of this invention is to provide a portable abrasive tool in which its power means is rigidly mounted to the remainder of the tool.

Other objects, uses, and advantages of this invention are apparent upon a reading of this description, which proceeds with reference to the drawing forming part thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the abrasive tool of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, the line 44 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the structure of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a portable abrasive tool of the present invention. The tool includes a substantially cylindrical tubular member 10, which is adapted to be rotated by a motive or power means 1 1. The power means 11 is preferably a power driven hand drill.

The cylindrical member 10 has a substantially cylindrical surface formed of a suitable abrasive material such as sandpaper, for example. The sandpaper is mounted on the tubular member 10 in any suitable manner so as to be easily removed therefrom for replacement purposes.

The cylindrical member 10, which is substantially hollow, has a guard 12 surrounding its lower portion. The guard 12 extends beyond one end of the cylindrical member 10 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

An annular member 14 is disposed within the guard 12 at one end thereof and secured thereto by suitable means such as screws 15 (one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). The annular member 14 is secured to the power means 11 in a stationary non-rotating manner by suitable means such as bolt and lock nut 13. A shoulder 16 has rotatably mounted thereon one end of the cylindrical member 10.

The guard 12 has a support member 17 attached thereto for supporting the other end of the cylindrical member 10. The support member 17 includes a curved base portion 18 having a slot 19 (see FIG. 6) extending longitudinally therealong to permit the base portion 18 to be fitted over a threaded screw 20, which extends downwardly from the lower surface of the guard 12. This allows the support member 17 to be slidable with respect to the guard 12.

The support member 17 has an end plate 21 formed integral with the base portion 18 and extending upwardly therefrom substantially perpendicular thereto. The end plate 21 has a shaft or rod 22 extending substantially perpendicular to the end plate 21.

The cylindrical member 10 has one end closed by a shoulder 23 which is preferably formed of a metallic material and fixedly secured to the member 10 by suitable means such as welding, for example. The shoulder 23 has partly in plan, taken along a circular passage 24 having an enlarged recess 24a provided therein, within which recess is mounted a bearing 31. Bearing 31 is in turn rotatably mounted on shaft 22 and supports shoulder 23.

The axis of the passage 24, the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical member 10, and the axis of the shaft or rod 22 are coaxial.

Thus, when the support member 17 is moved from the solid line position of FIG. 3 and the dotted line position of FIG. 4 to the solid line position of FIG. 4, the shoulder 23 enters the open end of cylindrical member 10. This rotatably supports the end of the cylindrical member away from the end supported by the guard 12 through the annular member 14.

A suitable washer 25 of slightly smaller diameter than passage 24 is provided on shaft 22 to space the end plate 21 slightly from the shoulder 23 so that member 10 may freely rotate.

When the support member 17 has been positioned so that the shoulder 23 is within cylindrical member 10, a knob 26, which has a threaded passage therein, is threadedly secured to the threaded screw 20. The knob 26 has a curved flange 2,7, which engages against the curved base portion 18 of the support member 17 to clamp the base portion 18 of the support member 17 against the guard 12. Thus, the support member 17 and the guard 12 are locked to each other with the guard 12 providing bearing support through the annular member 14 at one end of the cylindrical member 10 and through the shoulder 23, bearing 31 and shaft 22 of the support member 17 at the other end of said cylindrical member 10.

The rotatably mounted cylindrical member 10 is rotated by the power means 11 through suitable connecting means. This connecting means includes a resilient body 28, which is preferably formed of rubber, disposed within the interior of the cylindrical member 10 slightly beyond one end thereof as shown in FIG. 4. The body 28 snugly fits within the cylindrical member 10 so as to be drivingly connected thereto.

The body 28 has a shaft 29 connected thereto. The shaft 29 has a reduced threaded end, which receives a nut 30 to connect the shaft 29 to the body 28. The shaft 29 is connected by suitable means (not shown) to the power means 11 so as to be rotated thereby.

Accordingly, the guard 12 which is connected to the power means via member 14 the cylindrical member 10, which has an abrasive surface between the power means 11 and the distal end of the guard. Furthermore, the cylindrical member 10 runs true so that the cylindrical abrasive surface also runs true because the member 10 is rotatably supported at both ends. Additionally, the positioning of the knob 26 between the intermediate ends of the cylindrical member 10 permits easy handling of the portable abrasive tool of the present invention.

When used for sanding automobile bodies, the length of the cylindrical member 10 is preferably about eighteen inches. This permits a substantially large area to be quickly sanded or polished while providing a very smooth finish on the surface of the body. By making the length of the cylindrical member 10 no greater than eighteen inches, the portable abrasive tool of the present invention is able to reach tight places of an automobile body.

While the portable abrasive tool of the present invention has been described with respect to sanding the body of an automobile, it should be understood that it is readily usable with any material that is to be polished, sanded, or ground. For example, wood could be sanded by the tool of the present invention.

An advantage of this invention is that it insures true rotation of the abrasive material. Another advantage of this invention is that it is easily held by the user. A further advantage of this invention is that it reduces the cost of labor while producing an excellent smooth finish of the surface being polished, sanded, or ground. Still another advantage of this invention is that it is capable of reaching difiicult areas to be polished, ground, or sanded.

For purposes of exemplification, a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described according to the best present understanding thereof. However, it will be apparent that changes and modifications in the arrangement and construction of the parts thereof may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable abrasive tool including a member having a substantially cylindrical abrasive surface, a guard surrounding a portion of said abrasive surface in spaced relation thereto, means connected to said guard to rotat ably support one end of said member, power means supported by said guard, means connecting said power means to said member to rotate said member, said member being substantially hollow, said means connecting said power means to said member including a connecting member disposed within said member and rotatable therewith, said connecting member having a shaft connected thereto, said shaft being connected to said power means, said means connected to said guard including a base portion slidably connected to said guard, and an end plate extending upwardly from said base portion, means on said end plate to cooperate with said one end of said hollow member to allow said hollow member to rotate with respect thereto, said one end of said hollow member having a shoulder secured thereto and substantially closing said one end of said hollow member, said shoulder having a circular passage extending therethrough and coaxial with the rotating axis of said hollow member, and said means on said end plate including a shaft disposed within said passage and said shoulder and of slightly smaller diameter.

2. The tool according to claim 1 including means to retain said base portion on said guard in a fixed position, and said retaining means including hand support means intermediate the ends of said guard to permit support of said tool by the user.

3. The tool according to claim 2 in which one end of said guard extends beyond said one end of said member.

4. The tool according to claim 3 in which said guard is curved and concentric with said abrasive surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES L. JONES, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 51-268 

